You can add predefined lines or bars to charts in several apps for Office. By adding lines, including series lines, drop lines, high-low lines, and up-down bars, to specific chart can help you analyze the data that is displayed. If you no longer want to display the lines or bars, you can remove them.

In Excel, you can add predefined series lines, drop lines, high-low lines and up-down bars to make a specific charts easier to read. Excel charts, such as 2-D stacked bar and column charts, line charts, pie of pie and bar of pie charts, area charts, and stock charts, can be modified to display the information you want. If you no longer need the lines or bars, you can remove them.

Predefined lines and bars that you can add to a chart

Depending on the chart type that you use, you can add one of the following lines or bars:

Series lines These lines connect the data series in 2-D stacked bar and column charts to emphasize the difference in measurement between each data series. Pie of pie and bar of pie charts display series lines by default to connect the main pie chart with the secondary pie or bar chart.

Drop lines Available in 2-D and 3-D area and line charts, these lines extend from data points to the horizontal (category) axis to help clarify where one data marker ends and the next data marker starts.

High-low lines Available in 2-D line charts and displayed by default in stock charts, high-low lines extend from the highest value to the lowest value in each category.

Up-down bars Useful in line charts with multiple data series, up-down bars indicate the difference between data points in the first data series and the last data series. By default, these bars are also added to stock charts, such as Open-High-Low-Close and Volume-Open-High-Low-Close.

Add predefined lines or bars to a chart

Click the 2-D stacked bar, column, line, pie of pie, bar of pie, area, or stock chart to which you want to add lines or bars.

This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

On the Layout tab, in the Analysis group, do one of the following:

Click Lines, and then click the line type option that you want.

Note: Different line type options are available for different chart types.

Click Up/Down Bars, and then click Up/Down Bars.

Note: You can change the format of the series lines, drop lines, high-low lines, or up-down bars that you display in a chart. For more information, see Format elements of a chart.

Predefined line and bar types that you can add to a chart

Depending on the chart type that you use, you can add one of the following lines or bars:

Series lines These lines connect the data series in 2-D stacked bar and column charts to emphasize the difference in measurement between each data series. Pie of pie and bar of pie charts display series lines by default to connect the main pie chart with the secondary pie or bar chart.

Drop lines Available in 2-D and 3-D area and line charts, these lines extend from data points to the horizontal (category) axis to help clarify where one data marker ends and the next data marker starts.

High-low lines Available in 2-D line charts and displayed by default in stock charts, high-low lines extend from the highest value to the lowest value in each category.

Up-down bars Useful in line charts with multiple data series, up-down bars indicate the difference between data points in the first data series and the last data series. By default, these bars are also added to stock charts, such as Open-High-Low-Close and Volume-Open-High-Low-Close.

Add predefined lines or bars to a chart

Click the 2-D stacked bar, column, line, pie of pie, bar of pie, area, or stock chart to which you want to add lines or bars.

This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

On the Layout tab, in the Analysis group, do one of the following:

Click Lines, and then click the line type that you want.

Note: Different line types are available for different chart types.

Click Up/Down Bars, and then click Up/Down Bars.

Note: You can change the format of the series lines, drop lines, high-low lines, or up-down bars that you display in a chart by right-clicking the line or bar, and then clicking Format <line or bar type> .